First Advisor

Subjects

DOI

10.15760/honors.610

Abstract

Despite there being many gamified apps, such as vocabulary trainers, on the market for language learning, there are not many that use communicative and task-based methods for instruction (e.g. adventure games). Well-designed games are intrinsically motivating to play even if they are long and challenging, and as Gee (2007) pointed out, facilitate learning. The Goethe Institute, a German language and culture institute, has tapped into the allure of adventure gaming and combined it with the benefits of communicative language learning. This study examines the strategies of these mobile-based adventure games for learning German and evaluates the principles of game design, language learning and technical criteria they implement to provide a model for the future development of mobile-based adventure games for language learning, particularly learning English. Unlike German, English is a global language so there are several other considerations that need to be made for developing such a game for English.